


Awkward Encounters

by Rosetylars



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 08:31:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2303282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosetylars/pseuds/Rosetylars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose have something to tell Jackie. The Doctor tries his hardest to avoid this encounter, but worse is in store...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awkward Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC!

If the Doctor were afraid of one thing in the universe, just a single entity out of all those he had encountered in his nine hundred years, it was Jackie Tyler. Unfortunately for him, this terrifying being just happened to be his lover’s mother. Even more unfortunately, said lover was currently imploring him to go with her, and admit to Jackie that they were officially together. Try as he did to persuade her, Rose wouldn’t back down. Plus, the Doctor knew that he would end up caving, giving into Rose, but did not want this moment to come without him putting up an argument.

She knew as well (not that she would ever admit that to him,) that it was only a matter of time before he let her have her way. They were seated on the sofa in the TARDIS library, snuggled and chatting. “We have to tell Mum, Doctor,” she looked up at him. “What’s the worst that could happen?” 

He grimaced. “She’d slap me, for starters. That’s always such a pleasure.” Being the stubborn Time Lord he was, he kept up his feeble attempt at persuading her. “What if we just leave off telling her for a bit? Maybe go to Woman Wept again, or there’s this beautiful planet called Midnight where you can go to the spa and it’s truly lovely, honestly, I've always wanted to go on one of the tours, we can see the sights together-“

Rose put a finger on his lips to silence him. “There’s this brilliant thing called breathing, you should try it sometime.” She grinned the way that he loved it, her tongue poking out between her teeth. 

He tried not to melt at the sight of it. “Respiratory bypass,” he mumbled beneath her finger, faking a frown.

She removed her hand. “Nice try, but don’t change the subject. What are the coordinates to Mum’s place? I’m sure I can set the TARDIS to go see her myself, and then we can tell her, have a nice cuppa, and then go to Midnight. How does that sound?”

“But Rooooose,” he whined, but relented at her scathing look. He puffed out his cheeks and groaned. “Fine! Come on.” 

She beamed.

**

The Doctor opened the door only a fraction after materialising. After checking where they were, he gasped and quickly shut it again. Rose bit back a giggle. “We accidentally ended up in the flat, did we?” Normally, they materialised outside the estate and made their way towards the flat hand in hand. 

“The only time the TARDIS actually ends up where we want her to,” he mumbled. 

Rose stroked a coral strut affectionately. “The old girl knows where we need to be!”

Grabbing his suit jacket from said strut, the Doctor mumbled something about uppity time ships. Rose pushed past him, out of the TARDIS, and into the living room. She was immediately wrapped in a hug by her mother.

“Rose!” Jackie gasped, ushering her onto the sofa, “I thought I heard that daft spaceship, and I was about to look out the front of the Estate, because normally that alien of yours can’t land the thing anywhere near where he tries to-“ she stopped talking as said alien came out from his hiding place in the TARDIS.

“I’m not her alien,” he protested, and proceeded to take a seat dangerously close to Rose on the sofa. 

At this action, Jackie raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that? You two, always cuddling, always together, it’d make me sick if I didn’t love you both all the more for it.”

Rose shifted uncomfortably. “Actually, on that topic, we kind of wanted to tell you…” she nudged the Doctor.

“Uh, yes, that we are…” He struggled, “together.” He cursed internally. Nine centuries of time and space, and he still could not string a sentence together for Rose’s mother. 

For all of the Doctor's worrying, Rose's pleading, and the TARDIS's enthusiasm; Jackie's response was a complete anticlimax: "I know you two are. Have been since the moment you fell out of that daft box on Christmas, when you'd changed. Actually, no, before that-"

"But how, Mum? We haven't... We weren't..." Rose floundered for words. "This is recent," she finished lamely. 

Her mother shook her head and gave a knowing smile. She continued, softly, "You two've been in love for as long as I can remember seeing you together. Always together, always holding hands, hugging; anyone with half a brain would think you to be together!"

The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand on the sofa. As anxious as he had been to avoid Jackie's scrutiny, he had to admit to himself that he felt completely relieved that Jackie was fine with their relationship. He did not realise how much he needed her approval until she had given it to him, and for this he was ecstatic. He questioned his earlier fears. They now had a relationship with no boundaries, no more hiding or game-playing. 

Rose's comment snapped him out of his reverie. "Actually, Mum, that did happen! Doctor, would you count the Ood's translation sphere as a brain? We were on a ship a long long way away, and we were stuck under a black hole, and the TARDIS was gone..."

He listened to her recount one of their adventures to Jackie and felt a sense of contentment he had not felt in years. He only realised that he was wearing a stupid grin when Rose called him out on it. "Doctor? Everything okay in that Time Lord brain of yours?" She tapped on his temple for good measure. 

He responded that yes, everything was perfectly okay; better than ever. 

**

After a cuppa and polite conversation with Jackie, they said their goodbyes and the pair retired to the TARDIS for their next adventure. 

Once they were inside the doors, the Doctor let out a contented sigh. "I believe, Miss Tyler, that we have a scheduled flight to the planet of-"

"Midnight!" Rose exclaimed. "Sounds dark, though. You sure it's a paradise planet?"

The Doctor could not help but grin. He then launched into a babble about how the planet actually had no air, and the surfaces could not be touched, so leisure palaces were built from space down. Rose tried to keep up, smiling and nodding to show her semi-comprehension. They piloted the TARDIS together, Rose receiving a few directions from the Doctor, and within a few minutes they were materialising in one of Midnight’s leisure palaces. By now they were standing on the far side of the console, and so could not see the creature lurking in the doorway.

They skirted the console, getting ready to leave the ship and step out into a leisure palace, when they noticed simultaneously what was waiting for them.

The Doctor almost regenerated with fright. The pair were both wide-eyed and shocked; there behind them, standing in the TARDIS' doorway, was Jackie Tyler. 

“You two finally realise,” Jackie drawled, “I’ve been here for ages and neither of you noticed for a second!”

He collected his jaw from the ground. After a quick breath, he asked, “How? How did you get here? Not by transmat, I should hope; not in a 21st century Earth home-“

“I forgot to give Rose the gift I bought her a while back," Jackie squawked, "so I followed you into your stupid spaceship and you didn't even realise! So take me home, please. I'm not signing up for any of that space hopping nonsense!"

The Doctor could barely contain his grimace. He groaned under his breath. "The TARDIS needs to recharge for a little while; Midnight's a long way away, plus, we're about two million years in the future. Takes energy, that..."

Rose could feel his discomfort. "How long d'you reckon?" She inquired.

He lay a hand on the time rotor and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. "Two hours, twenty-three minutes. Well, that's what the old girl's telling me."

She tried not to curse. The idea of a nice, relaxing, pleasant trip to Midnight was evaporating quickly. Now, her mum was there, watching their every move. This was going to be an interesting trip for all three of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty please review! This is my first fic so any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated! 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
